By David Krayden – The Post Millennial
A university basketball team was very close to sudden death at the Los Angeles International Airport. A plane carrying the Gonzaga U team to LA for a game with UCLA nearly crashed into another aircraft taking off.
An air traffic controller can be heard shouting “Stop, stop, stop!” as the Embraer E135 charter jet managed to slow down and stop just as Delta Flight took off into the air. A collision would have been catastrophic for the occupants of both planes. The incident occurred at around 4:30 pm Friday.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it is investigating the incident to discover how two aircraft came so close to colliding, The LA Times reported. The FAA said that the jet carrying the team “proceeded to cross the hold bars, air traffic controllers told the pilots to stop” after being directed by air traffic controllers to hold short of crossing the runway. “The jet never crossed the runway edge line,” the FAA added.
Key Lime Flight 563 was the designated carrier for Gonzaga’s basketball team, which playing UCLA on Saturday. Gonzaga “expects to receive more information related to this event, and is grateful that the incident ended safely for all,” the university said in a statement.
The flight that took off as Key Lime landed was a Delta flight headed for Atlanta. Delta Flight 471 “operated as normal,” said Erica Hutlas, a spokesperson for the airline. Key Lime Air has not yet responded to the incident. Los Angeles International is operating at one of its busiest times of the year: the Christmas travel season. From Dec. 19 to Jan. 2, the airport is expected to handle 3.2 million passengers.